Playing at the Pumpkin Patch

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This is the third year that I have photographed at the Uesugi Farms Pumpkin Patch in San Martin. I think I have enough pumpkin photos, but when I go back I see everything a little differently. This year the photography club had an hour and a half access before the park opened and the swarm of school children arrived. The overcast sky provided ideal, diffused light for macro shots of Indian corn husks.The clouds eventually departed to leave a clear blue sky as a perfect backdrop for the orange pumpkins. When the sun appeared, so did the bees (and the wind). Because of their constant movement, bees are tough enough to photograph. When the flower is swaying, it is doubly difficult. I took a lot of wind-blurred photos with bee blobs. To catch this shot, I backed off the telephoto a bit to get more light and a faster shutter speed. The bees are laden with pollen.This bee has more clarity because the sunflower was hanging low and out of the wind, and the bee stayed put. This must have been his first flower of the day because he is not covered in pollen.

I purposefully over exposed this back-lit flower because I wanted to keep detail in the dark center. In Lightroom I pulled a little color out of the white-washed petals, but kept the high key effect.

If you have been following my blog, you may remember that last winter Buzz and Woody frolicked in the Virginia snow. (http://visual-journey.blogspot.com/2010/12/playing-in-snow.html) On this day they played in the pumpkin patch, clambering over the fancy gourds.

Cinderella seems to have stayed out past her midnight curfew.

"The Three Gourdos"

Maybe I was the one who was playing with the fancy gourds.
You can see many more pumpkin patch photos on my
Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/suebrazelton/

Anderson Lake County Park

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This day use park at the base of Anderson Dam and just 4 miles from my house, surrounds Coyote Creek. I walked the length of the park this morning with just my point & shoot camera for a photography club project. Mostly I stayed along the creek, which in this first photo is to the right of the path.

Although many leaves had fallen, the color turn was just starting. I looked for unusual vantage points, lines and shapes. The greenery behind these leaves is a reflection.This is a close up of the fast moving water flowing over moss covered rocks, which made an interesting abstract.

You can see more photos from my morning in the park on Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/suebrazelton/

Syngenta Seed Farm

Click on a photo to see a larger image.Syngenta is a global seed company with a farm in Gilroy. Along with eight members of the photography club, I traipsed around the grounds for several hours in a state of flower overload. The scenic views were lovely,
but I prefer to move in for the more intimate view
through a macro lens.

This is my favorite shot of the day.

You can view more images from Syngenta on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/suebrazelton/

World Wide Photo Walk

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On October 1st, 10+ members of the photography club met downtown (Morgan Hill) as part of the World Wide Photo Walk. Over 1000 cities around the world were sites where people walked and photographed. We started at 5pm with the intent to photograph the downtown area during twilight, when the sun is down and the sky still shows blue.

The Third Street Promenade was a colorful spot,
but it always pays to turn around to see what's happening
behind you...like this crescent moon.I added a star filter.

It is fun to be out after dark
View some of Morgan Hill's quirky characters on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/suebrazelton/

Virginia

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My brother lives next to a forest. With the sky gray and gloomy, I focused on the green of the shrubs and trees. The leaves showed only the slightest hint of the coming fall color.I took this photo from my brother's front porch. We had seen deer several times in his "back yard." As they sauntered past his house and deeper into the forest, I moved to the front of the house and willed them to pass through an opening in the trees. I processed this in PS Elements to accentuate the fawn and eliminate some of the graininess.

With a slight break in the weather, Mike and I accompanied
my niece, Ashley to her riding lesson.The muddy grounds forced her to ride inside

where I could not get any good photos,
but the horses in the stable were cooperative.
Click on this image to enlarge it,

look closely in the eye and you will see...ME!Ashley and I drove to Virginia Commonwealth University
to visit with her sister Allison.
Allison & I strolled through the Hollywood Cemetery
and found President James Monroe,
who is buried in the large, black edifice in the back.

There was a time when I had long, brown hair.

Washington D.C.

The rain from Kansas followed me to Virginia. Where was the sun? blue sky? On a warm, wet, humid day my brother and I set out for the American History Museum in D.C. Rain was not going to keep us at home.

I was desperate to get a shot of an iconic symbol of D.C. and shot this through the window of the car. I wanted to prove I had been there.

"There's no place like home."

"There's no place like home."

I watched a few minutes of the new "Charlie's Angles" TV show. I don't think any of them will replace Farah at the Smithsonian.

Kansas in September

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I was in Kansas to visit my aunt who grew up in the small farming town of Troy. The harvest was in full swing with only stubble left in many of the corn fields. These photos were taken in Belmont, a once thriving town
that has dwindled down to a few farms and a cemetery... which was behind me when I took these sunflower photos.

This sliver along the horizon was the only sun I saw in 4 days.

Not all of Kansas is covered in corn and soybeans. In Wathena, where my grandmother grew up, I found a road that paralleled the Missouri River and this first sign of autumn.

There's no place like home, but my next destination was
Virginia to see my brother and nieces.